Device for inspecting and pneumatically conveying stockings or the like



July 14, 1970 J. P. SALTIEL 3,520,454

DEVICE FOR INSPECTING AND PNEUMATICALLY CQNVEYING STOCKINGS OR THE LIKE Filed Feb. 13, 1968 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 N VENTOF J OS EPH PEPO an LT/El July 14, 1970 J. P. SALTIEL 3,520,454

DEVICE FOR INSPECTING AND PNEUMATICALLY CONVEYING STOCKINGS OR THE LIKE Filed Feb. 13, 1968 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 /N VENTO JOSEPH FEPO SALTIEL 2 77-0 Z/VEVS July 14, 1970 J. P. SALTIEL 3,520,454

DEVICE FOR I'NSPECTING AND PNEUMATICALLY CONVEYING STOCKINGS OR THE LIKE Filed Feb. 13, 1968 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 /N VENTOQ JOSEPH PEPO SALTIEL.

United States Patent 3,520,454 DEVICE FOR INSPECTING AND PNEUMATICALLY CONVEYING STOCKINGS OR THE LIKE Joseph Pepo Saltiel, Saint Quentin, France, assignor to Bas le Bourget-ets. J. P. Saltiel et ses Fils, Fresnoy-le- Grand, France, a company of France Filed Feb. 13, 1968, Ser. No. 705,190 Claims priority, application France, Nov. 15, 1967, 128,380 Int. Cl. A4lh 43/00 US. Cl. 223--43 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The device includes several testing forms mounted on a rotary support which, by its rotation, substitutes a form for another, whereby each form successively occupies several positions, each of which being intended for a distinct operation. Each form communicates, in one of said positions, with a pneumatic duct means. A mechanism carries on the stocking in translation over the form which is in the position wherein it communicates with said pneumatic duct means said mechanism including means for opening and closing said duct means so as to pneumatically evacuate the stocking as soon as it reaches its end-of-travel position.

The present invention essentially relates to a device for inspecting textile goods or the like, for instance knitted vestirnentary work, such as stockings or the like, during their manufacturing and for pneumatically conveying such goods.

It is known that vestimentary textile goods are subjected, after knitting and before the finishing, to a check aimed at discovering the defects and eliminating faulty articles. In the case of seamless womens stockings, this control is performed by placing the stocking or the like, coming from the knitting place in the shape of a tube, on a testing form or leg, overhangingly supported by a rotary head. The seamstress turns the stocking inside out, draws it on the form and, by stretching the fabric, checks both faces by manually rotating said form.

Generally the toes of the stockings are closed and the material in excess cut ofi while said stocking is placed upon said form. The seamstress engages the foot end of the stocking into the sewing and cutting mechanism of the machine, for instance a sewing machine, and then, the sewing being performed, she draws on the stocking in order to bring the toe over the end of the form at which opens a nozzle connected to a pneumatic conveyance duct means. She then only has to operate this duct means, i.e. to connect it with the vacuum pump, to cause the stocking to be sucked on, automatically everted and conveyed to a station where it is temporarily stored before being removed for a subsequent handling.

Also known are devices wherein a sliding form, whereupon a stocking to be tested is drawn on, engages the end of said stocking between the jaws of a closing device which sews or welds the toe, the stocking being then evacuated by a suction nozzle opening near to said closing device.

These known devices have the drawback of involving important losses in time: indeed, the stocking remains F KB on the form during the whole toe closing operation which is relatively long and obliges the seamstress to wait, before placing and testing a new stocking, that the preceding stocking be finished and evacuated by the pneumatic duct means.

The present invention aims at overcoming these drawbacks by creating a device characterized in that it includes several testing forms mounted on a mobile support which, by moving, substitutes a form for another, each form thus successively occupying several positions, every one of the latter being intended for a distinct operation.

It will at once be appreciated that the fact of providing several forms taking successively several positions allows performance simultaneously of several operations. In this manner, while on one of said forms is for instance performed the sewing of a stocking toe, the seamstress may arrange a stocking on another form by turning it inside out, and perform its checking. A substantial amount of time may thus 'be economised, resulting in a decrease of the cost price of the manufactured goods.

According to another feature of the invention, the aforesaid forms are mounted on a rotatably movable support provided with means allowing its immobilization according to determined angular positions.

According to still another feature of the invention, the aforementioned support bears two forms arranged parallel to its axis of rotation, said support alternately taking two diametrically opposite positions, each form communicating with the aforementioned pneumatic duct means in one of said positions.

In this way, every form may adopt a first position in which it receives the stocking or the like, and a second position in which the toe of said stocking is closed before the latter is pneumatically sucked on.

Still according to the invention, the support is driven in rotation by a motor, the supply of which is controlled as a function of its angular motion.

A locking member is provided to fix the support in each of the aforementioned two angular positions, said member being actuated in synchronism with the rotation of said support.

There is also provided a mechanism to carry along the stocking or the like in translation upon the form which is in the position required for communication with the aforesaid pneumatic duct means, said mechanism including besides means for opening and closing said duct means in order to pneumatically evacuate said stocking as soon as the end-of-travel position is reached.

It may be seen that the device according to this invention allows performance simultaneously and entirely automatically of the checking and the toe closing operations.

The invention covers also the various applications of the aforementioned device, when used to check and to manufacture vestimentary goods, especially to check stockings or the like, and for the simultaneous automatic closing of the toe end of said stocking.

By way of new industrial products, the invention covers also the installations provided with devices of the aforementioned type, especially installations including an automatic device for closing the toes on stockings.

Other features of the invention will appear more clearly from the following description, made in reference to the appended drawings, given solely by way of examples. In these drawings:

FIG. 1 is a schematic view in perspective, showing a device according to this invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the means for rotating the support provided with testing forms as well as means for locking said support;

FIG. 3 shows in perspective the device drawing along the stocking or the like upon one form;

FIG. 4 shows in perspective the device obturating the pneumatic duct means conveying the stockings;

FIG. 5 shows the diagram of the pneumatic duct means controlling the device in accordance with this invention.

According to the method of embodiment represented on the FIG. 1, the device of the invention includes essentially two identical testing forms or legs, 1 and 2, mounted back-balanced, one of their ends being free while the other is secured, by means of a respective hollow sleeve 3 and 4, upon a support constituted by a plate 5, solid with an axle 6 carried by a chassis 7. The forms 1 and 2 are mounted at the opposite ends of the plate 5 and are arranged parallel to the axle 6.

Each form 1 and 2 includes an internal channel of pneumatic exhaust, respectively 8 and 9, opening at its free end, respectively in 10 and 11 and communicating with the respective hollow sleeve 3 and 4. A conduit 12, connected to a (not represented) vacuum pump and fixedly mounted upon the chassis 7, secures the pneumatic conveying of the stockings or the like toward a (not represented) storage station.

An electric motor 13 secures the rotary motion of the axle 6 and hence of the plate 5 and of the forms 1 and 2.

A locking member (see FIG. 2) allows placement of the plate 5 in two diametrically opposite angular positions. This locking member is constituted by a lever 14 mounted to tilt about a pin 15 and the end 14a of which may engage into the notches 16a and 16b of a disk 17, solid with the axle 6. The oscillation of the lever 14 about its pin is controlled by a double-action jack 18.

The axle 6 carries also a finger or the like 19 actuating, at each 180 rotation, a valve 20 intended to cut the supply of the electric motor 13 and to control the jack 18 as explained hereinafter.

The plate 5 may thus adopt two diametrically opposite positions: in one of these positions, one of the forms (form 2 in the represented case) communicates with the conduit 12 of the pneumatic duct means, while the other form (form 1 in the represented case) is out of communication with said conduit.

A mechanism is provided to drive in translation the stocking or the like being on the form which communicates with the pneumatic exhaust conduit 12, i.e. the form 2 in the represented case. This drive mechanism includes a carriage 21, movable in translation on rails 22 parallel tot he forms 1 and 2, and driven by a doubleaction jack 23, the stem 24 of which carries on its end close to the carriage 21 a block or the like 25 actuating during its translatory motion two stationary valves 26 and 27, integrated to the pneumatic control circuit of the device and the action of which will be explained hereinafter.

Vertically mounted on the carriage 21, there is a double-action jack 28 supporting, at the end of its stem 29, a small plate or the like 30 guided by a stem 31 mounted on the carriage 21 and driven in translation together with the stem 29. This small plate 30 carries in turn two guiding rods 32 and 33 on which is slidably mounted a sole-piece 34 provided with a protecting pad 35, of felt or the like, intended to contact the stocking and to carry it in translation upon the form. Springs 36 and 37, co-axial with the rods 32 and 33, secure a resilient application of the felt pad upon the stocking.

The device includes moreover a member allowing to chine, designated as a whole by 52, said machine being." provided with a maintaining and guiding member 53 coni cut or to open at will the pneumatic conveyance duct means. This member is constituted by a full sector 38 provided with an orifice 39 and arranged between the conduit 12 and the conduit 40 connected to the (not represented) vacuum pump. The sector 38 is driven in oscillation about its pin 41 by a double-action jack 42, in such a way that it may take two positions: in one of them it interrupts the communication between conduits 12 and 40 (as represented in FIGS. 1 and 4), in the other it secures by means of the orifice 39 a communication between said conduits.

The FIG. 5 represents the diagram of the pneumatic circuit controlling and synchronizing the device in accordance with this invention.

Every one of the double-action jacks 18, 23, 28 and 42 is supplied by a respective distributor 43, 44, 45 and 46, itself connected to a mains supply line 47 delivering a fluid under pressure, for instance, compressed air under a pressure of 4 bars. The distributor 43 supplies besides an electropneumatic contactor 48, inserted in the supply circuit 49 of'the motor 13 and securing the opening or the closing of said circuit.

The distributor 43 is actuated, on the one hand, by an operating valve 50, actuated manually or automatically, and, on the other hand, by the valve 20 actuated by the finger 19 solid with the axle 6, said operatingvalve 50 and said valve 20 being connected to the mains supply line 47.

The distributor 44 is actuated, on the one hand, by the operating valve 50, by means of an adjustable time-lag member 51, and on the other hand, by the return control valve 27 of the jack 23, which is actuated by the finger 25 solid with the stem 24 of said jack and which is connected to the mains supply line 47.

The distributor 45 is, on the one hand, actuated by the operating valve 50 and, on the other hand, it is actuated by the lowering control valve 26, also actuated by the aforementioned finger 25 and connected to the mains supply line 47.

Finally, the distributor 46 is actuated, on the one hand, by the operating valve 50 and, on the other hand, by the aforementioned valve 27.

The device is operatedv in the following way:

For explanatory reasons, it will be supposed that following initial conditions are met: the device is in the.

stop position inverse to that represented on the FIG. 1,

i.e. it is the form 2 which, contrary to the view shown on this FIG. 1, is out of communication with the conduit 12, the form 1 then communicating with said conduit. The device is locked in this position by the lever 14, the end 14a of which engages the notch 16b of the disk 17. The carriage 21 is in the end position shown on FIG. 1, the double-action jack 23 being consequently in itsexpanded position, while the vertical jack 28 is in contracted position and hence the sole-piece 34 is lowered. I

The seamstress faces the forms and, from the side of the chassis opposite to that appearing in the first plane upon the perspective view of FIG. 1, she draws over the form 2, which is hence directly in front of her at a level 'l slightly above that of the form 1, the stocking to test. For this, she engages first the reverse side of the stocking and she turns the latter inside out. Having checked the stocking stretched over the form so as to discover possible faults, she then proceeds to close the toe of the stocking. For this, she engages said toe into a closing device which may for instance be constituted, like in the case represented on FIG. 1, by a sewing and cutting mastituted by two superimposed plates separated by a cleft,

and a drive member 54 which disengages the end of the stocking from the machine as the sewing is performed.

Such a device for closing the toe on a stocking is described in a more detailed way in a co-pending US. patent appli-.

cation Ser. No. 698,325 filed on Jan. 16, 1968, now Pat.

3,457,885, by this applicant with the title: Method and 1' Device for Assembling Textile Goods, especially for Closing the Toes on Seamless Stockings. The seamstress then opens the operating valve 50 by actuating it either by means of a push button or by means of a foot-actuated pedal. The opening of the valve 50 arms the time-lag member 51 which, at the end of a pre-rated time, will act on the distributor 44. The valve 50 moreover acts on the distributor 45, extending the jack 28 and hence raising the sole-piece 34, on the distributor 46 controlling the double-action jack 42 so as to interrupt communication between the conduits 12 and 40 and, finally, on the distributor 43 which, on the one hand, unlocks the axle 6 by tilting the lever 14 disengaging the end 14a from the notch provided on the disk 17, and, on the other hand, acts upon the electro-valve 48 closing the supply circuit of the motor 13. The latter drives in rotation the axle 6 and hence the plate and the testing forms solid with the latter. When the axle 6 has performed a 180 rotation, the finger 19 opens the valve 20. which brings the distributor 43 back to its former position. The electrovalve 48 opens again the supply circuit of the motor 13, while the double-action jack 18 tilts the lever 14, engaging the end 14a of the latter into the notch 16a of disk 17.

The two forms are then in the position represented on the FIG. 1, the form 2, on which is engaged the stocking 55 by its turn-over end while the foot of said stocking is engaged infthe guiding device of the sewing machine 52, communicates with the conduit 12 of the pneumatic conveyance. The rotation of the plate substituting a form for another is achieved in a practically instantaneous way, i.e. in a timemuch shorter than that necessary for the jack 28 to reach its position of total extension. At the end of its raising motion, the sole-piece 34 is stopped by the form 2, catching the end of the stocking between said form and its felt pad 35. The springs 36 and 37 secure a resilient and smooth contact betwen the sole-piece 34 and the form 2. At the end of a pre-rated time necessary for the rise of the sole-piece 34, the time-lag member 51 acts upon the distributor 44 controlling the contraction of the double-action jack 23. The carriage 21 is then driven along its rails following the direction F, while the sole-piece 34 draws on the stocking so as to engage it upon the form 2. Of course, the forward motion of the carriage 21 is synchronized with the device closing the toe of the stocking. When the lug 25, solid in motion with the carriage 21 reaches at the end of its travel, i.e. in the contracted position of the jack 23, the valve 27, it causes the latter to open, whereby the position of the distributors 44 and 46 is inverted, this causing, on the one hand, the back motion'of the carriage 21 in the opposite direction and, on the other hand, the tilting of the sector 38, the orifice 39 of which comes to face the conduit 12 which is thus connected to the pump.

The stocking is then sucked on by the orifice 11, automatically everted so as to have its wrong side inwards and coveyed through the conduits 12 and 40 to the storage station. During the back motion of the carriage 21, the leg 25 actuates the valve 26 whereby the position of the distributor 45 is inverted, the jack 28 contracted and the solepiece 34 lowered. The device is ready for a new operating cycle.

It will readily be appreciated that, while the sewing machine 52 closes the toe of the stocking and while the latter is carried on upon the form 2 by the sole-piece 34, the form 1 becomes free so that the seamstress may place on this form the next stocking in order to check it. As soon as the stocking which was on the form 2 has been evacuated by suction, she engages the foot of the stocking she just checked into the sewing machine and actuates again the operating valve 50'.

The device according to the invention allows hence to perform in a single station the turning inside out of the stocking, its checking, the closing of the toe and the evacuation of the stocking (with simultaneous everting of the latter).

It should be noted that many variants and modifications could be introduced to the described device without leaving by that the scope of the invention. Thus, instead of being directly actuated by the seamstress, the operating valve could be actuated by a control member acting as a function, for instance, of the closing process of the stocking toe. Likewise, the pneumatic control means of the locking lever 14, of the carriage 21, of the sole-piece 34 and of the sector 38 could for example be replaced by electro-magnetic members. Of course, in this case, the valves 20, 26, 27 and 50, the electro-valve 48, as well as the time-lag member 51 could be replaced by electrical or electro-magnetic contact or time-lag members.

The device could also include more than two testing forms, the support carrying said forms being then locked in a corresponding number of positions and the stockings or the like being then subjected to several manufacturing or finishing operations instead of a single one, as in the presented and described case.

Finally, the device according to the invention could be associated to a closing machine of a type different from that represented, for instance a closing machine performing a welding or a glueing of the stocking toe or even a machine performing any other operation.

What is claimed is:

1. Device for inspecting and for pneumatically conveying articles such as stockings comprising a frame structure, a rotary shaft carried thereby, a support solid with said rotary shaft, a plurality of testing forms arranged parallel to said shaft, each having a longitudinal axis and being secured by one of its ends on said support and including an internal channel open at its free end, driving means for driving said shaft in rotation between determined Stopping angular positions, pneumatic duct means adapted to connect with the internal channel of each form in one of said determined angular positions of the shaft, a mechanism for carrying along the stocking in translation upon the one of said testing forms when it is in the position wherein it communicates with said pneumatic duct means, and means operated by said carrying mechanism for opening and closing said duct means so as to pneumatically pull the stocking into the opening provided at the free end of the form as soon as said carrying mechanism reaches its end-of-travel position whereby said stocking is everted while being removed.

2. Device according to claim 1, wherein said driving means comprises an electric motor including in its supply circuit a distributor, a contactor supplied by said distributor, an operating valve for activating said distributor, a finger and a stop valve actuated by said finger which is solid with the rotary shaft of said support.

3. Device according to claim 1 further comprising a disk solid with said rotary shaft and having notch means, a tilting lever mounted on said frame structure and intended to engage, in the stopping position with said notch means, a double acting jack and a distributor, said lever being actuated in synchronism with the rotation of said support by said double-action jack as controlled by said distributor.

4. Device according to claim 1, wherein said carrying mechanism comprises a carriage, a gripping member mounted on said carriage and movable parallel to the forms, said gripping means being itself movable with respect to said carriage in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of said forms.

5. Device according to claim 4, wherein said gripping member comprises a support, a sole-piece resiliently mounted on said support, a double-acting jack carried by said carriage and having a stem, said sole-piece being secured to the end of said stem of said jack carried by said carriage, a distributor, an operating valve therefor, a finger solid with said carriage and a retracting control valve actuated by said finger.

6. Device according to claim 5, wherein said carriage is driven into a horizontal translation by said jack which is connected to said distributor and includes a time-lag device for actuating said distributor by said operating valve and further includes a return control valve actuated by said finger.

' 7. Device according to claim 1, wherein the means for opening and closing said pneumatic duct means include a tilting sector inserted in said duct means, a double-acting jack for operating said sector, a distributor, an operating valve for actuating said distributor and a control valve for said operating valve.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Kienel 1122 v FOREIGN ATENTS Great Britain.

4/ 1962 Canada.

" jtis. 2 1 1.11. I 

